she's had quite a bit of press to i see on the website...
You’ve heard about models who become actresses, hosted TV shows or “created” perfumes. After two years of international success as a model, Belgian-born Anouck Lepere, has designed a line of unusual jewelry under her own name.
It consists of 75 different pieces, including ear rings, necklaces and bracelets and sells in high-end stores like Barneys in New York and Colette in Paris and via her web site, anoucklepere.com
Jewelry items are priced from $45 for a silver ear ring to a few thousand dollars for a gold necklace.
"The ear rings are very unusual pieces that need a little imagination to put on,” she says. “They do not require piercing, but use the form of the ear to sit in place,” she notes. The jewelry can be worn casually or formally.
When Anouck wears her own jewelry she says people come up to her to ask her where she bought the pieces.
“I don’t have pierced ears,” she says. “I found an ear ring when I was 14 that sat around my ear. Then, I lost a piece. I was here in New York. That’s how it all started.” Her friend Greg Foley, an art director, helped her make her first piece of jewelry.
Being creative came naturally to her. “Before I became a model I studied architecture in Antwerp,” Anouck recalls. “I went to university. I was always busy creatively. I missed that when I was modeling.”
She says her training as an architecture student helped with the design process. “Creating spaces is close to fashion in a way,” she says. “Fashion is very interesting because it mirrors the times.”
Her status as a top model helps promote the jewelry, which she sometimes wears to shoots (some photographers like the accessory).
Anouck has appeared on the covers of Italian Vogue, Italian Marie Claire, Japanese Vogue and many times in the pages of American Vogue. Anouck's current campaigns include Shiseido and Hugo Boss. Anouck says she is recognized more often in Europe (where the Boss commercial is ubiquitous) than in New York.
While studying architecture in Antwerp, she began modeling part-time. Doing runway shows twice a year for Belgian fashion designers was a great way for a student to earn money, she says, adding, “They pay you cash.”
Backstage at the Dries Van Noten show in the spring of 1999, Anouck met Marlon of IMG Models, who invited her to come to New York. “I had a dilemma. I was in my third year at school,” she recalls.
She decided to put her studies on hold and arrived in New York on January 15, 2000. “I thought I was going to live here for two months, and then, if it didn’t work, I would go back to school,” she says.
Anouck’s angelic face (she resembles the French actress Audrey Tatou of “Amelie”) soon attracted the attention of important photographers, such as Inez Van Lamsweerde, Mario Testino and Steve Meisel.
“From the moment you start working with those people, you are set,” she remarks. Anouck says modeling is “kind of fun,” though she says she did not like it at first. “Suddenly, what you had to say was not that important. You had to show yourself in a way which I was totally not used to.” She regards herself as shy. “That’s my personality.”
While she was initially categorized as one of the “Belgian girls,” she has strived to forge her own identity in the business. “I don’t want to be part of a wave,” she says. “I want to do my own thing.” Her jewelry gives her not only a creative outlet but a business niche.
Anouck says she loves working in New York, where most of the fashion photography takes place. “The studios are great here.” Editorial work often takes her to Europe or to Asia, often for only a few days at a time for a shoot (she flies business class.)
During the twice-annual fashion weeks, held in New York, Paris and Milan, she gets tons of invitations to parties and events. Not everything about being a model is glamorous, she insists. Models can be kept waiting late into the night for fittings before shows. Her agency, IMG, arranges a car service for her in New York.
Anouck’s modeling work comes through her agencies, IMG in New York, Paris and London. The modeling business changes very fast, she notes. “Right now, they want models that are smart. They don’t want blank, beautiful girls. They look for personality.”
“It is difficult to say if you will be around in one or two years,” she continues. “I don’t care about it. I go with the flow. If it’s a long career, I’ll do it. If it’s over next year, I’ll do something else.”
She says she will always be interested in design. “As a model you have to show as much of yourself as possible. As a designer, you can design at home and hide yourself. Your designs get attention.”
Anouck lives on a quiet street in New York’s East Village. “To live in the Village is very nice,” she says. “The little streets are very European. I totally love that everything is possible in New York. People in New York are from all over the world and are very open-minded.”
While in New York, she doesn’t shop for clothes--handbags and shoes are sometimes the perks of the job. And when she is not working, Anouck doesn’t hang out with models. “You work at different times,” she says.
She likes New York’s funky East Village for its thrift shops, restaurants and St. Marks Bookstore, and goes to movies with friends.
While she says she loves New York, she adds that her heart is in Antwerp. “The quality of living is better in Europe.”
There is one spot in New York that reminds her of home, Le Pain Quotidien in Soho, where people sit communally at wooden tables and eat delicious pastries. “For me it is very Belgian in a way.” She says she is not on a diet. “I eat chocolates all the time. I was raised on chocolates.”
interview by Peter Malbin.
